While the Mission Australia survey of 7087 NSW youth (15 to 19-year-olds) ranked alcohol and drugs as their top concern, followed by discrimination (gender and racial) and mental health, here in the Nambucca Shire a safe place to sleep is top of the list time and time again.

Jane grew up in the area and by her early teens drugs and alcohol were a way of life and a way “to get attention”.

“I didn’t get attention from my parents so I started getting drunk and letting people do what they wanted to me … it was a way of getting attention,” Jane said.

“I shared a number of houses but often they became unsafe – in one house whenever I bought food, everyone ate it and I didn’t get any.

“Another time people were getting angry and I needed to leave but I was followed … they took me to the boat ramp, my head was hit there seven times, they did what they wanted and others were filming it – it was put up online.

“I went to the cops but they did nothing. I just had to leave.”

Couch-surfing in Newcastle eventually led her to a refuge in Maitland, where she found herself teaching other women how to cook and clean.

“I was like the mother of the clan and I was only 17 ,” she said.

“I realised that my upbringing was better than for a lot of others. It was scary going to the refuge at first because the interview was so stressful –they kept asking me why I couldn’t live closer to home and I didn't want to talk.”

Acting manager of the Nambucca Valley Youth Services, Lyn Owen, said homelessness was rife and had recently been exacerbated with the loss of funding for the  Crisis Accommodation worker at the Nambucca Neighbourhood Centre.

“So everyone from the Youthie’s target group of 12 to 25 year olds plus the homeless adults who would normally go to the Neighbourhood Centre, are now on the Youthie’s doorstep,” Lyn said.

She said many of the young people attending outreach courses at Macksville TAFE were also homeless.

“They are couch surfing in other people’s homes but without having a place to put their belongings.  They usually get moved along after the people they stay with get tired of them hanging around. 

“That’s their existence – moving from place to place.”  

She said other young people offered sexual favours for a bed for the night or slept rough on the beach and under bridges.

“It’s disturbing and horrible to hear but these are the realities of being homeless in the Nambucca Valley.  We have been donated four street swags by the Street Swags company to give to young people in this situation but we need to do more.”

“We are trying our best to put the young people in touch with the services we have in Nambucca … previously we had three homeless accommodation workers at the Youthie but New Horizons has moved and now the Wesley homeless worker is about to relocate to Bowraville.”

Stories from the street: as told by Youthie staff

Case One:

A young girl who lives in a shed with her dogs.  The homelessness services want her to go to a refuge in Coffs Harbour but she refuses to give up her family, which to her are her dogs.

(Lyn: This leads to another issue – the only refuges are in Kempsey and Coffs Harbour.  One is needed here in the Nambucca Valley.) 

Case Two:

Dave^^ is indigenous with a criminal record (mistakes made when he was younger), mental health problems and barriers for employment due to incarceration.

Meg^^ is his girlfriend – she is 17, pregnant and has mental health issues. Her mother recently passed away from alcoholism. She disengaged with education at a young age due to her mother’s addictive behaviours and sharing of addictive substances.

They moved to the grottiest motel in Nambucca as crisis accommodation but it was impossible to stay there due to ‘ice’ use amongst other patrons and the general filth of the motel complex itself. Having nowhere left to go in Nambucca, they have moved to Kempsey.

^^ Not their real names.​

* Things have started to turn around for Jane – she has a job interview next week and has started her own small business. She said getting psychological help to sort out her emotional wounds is difficult as health plans only offer five free sessions annually – those close to her say she really needs intensive treatment, possibly weekly.